Song of Solomon CD01
Just started a study on the Song of Solomon. It's a part of a series that is somewhere between eighteen and twenty-five CDs long. I don't know how long it is because I don't have all of the CDs yet. The first CD, which is what I'm writing about today, is geared to provide a backdrop for the series. According to the this first CD is seems that the literal view of this book of Solomon is a relatively new view of it, only within the last couple hundred years. Before that is was viewed allegorically. The following will be my notes/thoughts on this first CD.
There are several ways to view the book allegorically. Three of the most common ones are:
- God as the bridegroom and the 'natural' nation of Israel as the bride. Even within this view there are several subviews, many of them used by the Jewish people. A larger number of them refer to God "the Bridegroom" as the Messiah. A very popular subset of this is the Jewish community is one where the bride is the Torah. In other ways of looking at it, the law of God (the Torah) is the husband. Some ways they see it as the temple, in other ways Jerusalem. Some of the Catholic interpretations see the bride as Mary.
- The relationship between Jesus and the 'corporate' church. There are some views using this allegory where those that have studied is this way see this book of Solomon as being a prophetic map of the history of the corporate church. The look through history and map out the first and second century church to some chapters in Song of Solomon, and then the third through fifth century church to other chapters, and so on.
- Thirdly, the relationship between Jesus and the individual believer. This is the one that 'this' study refers to.
And there are dozens of other allegorical views of the book. The most important thing to do when studying any book or when taking any view is for me to pray that God would guide me, that the Holy Spirit would teach me. Because God is the one that knows. If it comes from God then it's a good thing, if it comes from a man's intellect then it's as useful as a boat load of baby poo. If you claim that 'God' gives you understanding, and especially if you feel called to teach it 'as' and understanding given from God, you really better make 'sure' that you are right. That last sentence is the only one here that comes not from me, but from God.
Though there are sometimes that I believe that God has revealed things to me and I will relay it that way, this isn't one of them. There is a teacher/speaker that is associated with the International House of Prayer who's teachings I am listening to regarding this book. These are just my notes and thoughts regarding this book. If God gives you insight concerning these notes, then fabulous; inside or outside these notes. For if we pray and completely rely on God, even our thoughts will come from Him.
The purpose of this first study CD01 for those that have the multi-CD series is to study the book as a beautiful love song as it relates to Jesus being the bridegroom and the individual believer as the bride.
In an early part of this CD the speaker addresses four reason why 'all' believers are included as being referenced as being the Bride of Christ. He explains that there are some believers who only think that there is a small privileged 'few' who have attained the right of being referred to as being the bride of Christ. My thought on that is "oh doggy poo". He further explains that élitist groups believe that only they, and their ten or twelve buddies scattered across the world, have attained the 'right' to be referred to as "the bride" of Christ.
OK, back to why 'all' believers are included as being the brides of Christ.
1) The maturity of the bride is the fruit of Jesus prayer. <John 17:26>
2) The Power of the full revelation of heaven transforms the bride. <1st John 3:2> The power of his unveiled glory in heaven is a successful agent of transformation to the redeemed heart.
3) What significantly insures the bride's destiny is the ravished heart of God. Whoever says yes to Christ, has an effect on Christ heart, and His heart is ravished by their willingness to say yes to him. <1John 3:9>. So when Jesus looks at those believers that have said yes, his heart is ravished, he looks at them in an entirely different way. God's heart is ravished for 'all' of his people. In heaven there is only one class of the redeemed, there isn't a bunch of subclasses of redemption. There isn't the "redeemed" then the "super-redeemed", then the "unbelievably-redeemed" LOL.
When a believer understands how much Christ is ravished by their "yes", when they are weakened and broken by the hopelessness of living for any other reason, then they will be given hope. They will rise up and live for the one that cares so passionately for them.
Another subtopic that the speaker started talking about was how dangerous it is to be a part of an élitist mindset regarding whether you are, or are not the bride of Christ. As he was talking about he doesn't even measure how he himself is doing as it relates to yesterday, or any other time in the past, I was reminded of something God revealed to me several years ago. Several years ago God made it clear to me that I should not only 'not' judge other people, but I should also 'not' even judge myself; that's God's job. And I shouldn't be preoccupied with God's job (as if I could do it) but I should wake up every morning and good go for the joy of life and understanding that that God has set in front of me.
Now I haven't done very well in this area. In fact I think that I have preoccupied myself with how well I was feeling a few weeks ago and wanting to attain that again quite often. But I do believe that if I would just listen to what God has said about enjoying what he has given me today that I will be much happier. It is written that God is the "Great I AM", 'not' the Great "WAS" or the Great "Going to be", but the scripture says he is the "Great I AM".
Theologically, and I actually have a distaste for that word but anyhow, one of the ideas that is referred to in Song of Solomon (and in other places in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures) is that we are engaged to Christ and in the age to come the engagement will be consummated and we will be married to Christ. In the Hebrew tradition, when you were 'formally' engaged you were legally married (again notes from this study, not my opinion). In this Hebrew tradition if a man and woman broke the engagement they had to get a legal divorce certificate. When engaged they waited one year before they consummated the marriage.
The Holy Spirit exalts Jesus in the Song of Songs (Solomon). There are three main characters of the book;
1) King Solomon as the picture of Jesus, King Solomon as the author of the song,
2) Shulamit Woman ... picture of the bride of Christ who eventually experiences full spiritual maturity. She is introduce as a young maiden who becomes a mature bride. The transition is recorded right in the middle of SoS 4:8.
3) The daughters of Jerusalem. They appear throughout the book regularly. They are never clearly identified or defined. However when we study what they do or what they say we learn that they love Jesus but they never really press in on the intimacy that the maiden or the bride does. The daughters love Jesus but they are mostly characterized by a spiritual dullness or passivity. But they clearly possess an inquisitive spirit, a sincere spirit to seek the Lord. Throughout the book they are perplexed by the fervency of the Shulamite woman.
Comparing Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Both of these books were written by Solomon (David's son). Proverbs is also a book that he wrote for a total of three books. Ecclesiastes was written to compare the vanity of living life "under the sun". In this book he says you can have everything in the world and you don't have the reality of God permeating everything you are on the inside, you have nothing.
The Song of Solomon on the other hand touches on the joy of life 'with' the knowledge and 'living' the life 'in' God. It highlights how meaningful 'everything' is if you are walking in the love and light of Jesus Christ. Again, remember this is an allegory. The understanding of how and when allegories should be used is something that can be learned by both study of the scriptures, and a divine understanding brought about by learning directly from the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself took scripture that others had referred to in the literal sense and brought meaning from him that no one had understood before by showing how the scripture of allegorical.
Ecclesiastes helps us to understand how 'everything' no matter how 'good' it is, does not matter unless it flows out of the Love of God. You could have the biggest 'ministry' in the world, give away everything you have to the poor, and if it didn't flow out of the Love of God it would be 'nothing' it would be meaningless. If you did it for recognition or just to "feel good" it would be meaningless in God's sight.
It's difficult to fervently seek the fullness of life that is in Jesus without understanding how futile how life is outside of Jesus. Ecclesiastes speaks of life without rest and fulfillment; based on worldly experience, knowledge, and self-assertion. That's what "worldly wisdom" says; assert yourself, get more knowledge, get more experience ... the book of Ecclesiastes says that you will 'never' get ultimate fulfillment pursuing that kind of fulfillment.
Song of Solomon talks about entering rest, through humility, submission, and the impartation of Love. It's a completely different perspective on life. The Jewish father's in ancient times were known to relate the three books of Solomon 'to' Solomon's temple. Proverbs related to the outer court, Ecclesiastes related to the inner court, and Song of Solomon was called the most Holy place.
There are several ways to view the book allegorically. Three of the most common ones are:
- God as the bridegroom and the 'natural' nation of Israel as the bride. Even within this view there are several subviews, many of them used by the Jewish people. A larger number of them refer to God "the Bridegroom" as the Messiah. A very popular subset of this is the Jewish community is one where the bride is the Torah. In other ways of looking at it, the law of God (the Torah) is the husband. Some ways they see it as the temple, in other ways Jerusalem. Some of the Catholic interpretations see the bride as Mary.
- The relationship between Jesus and the 'corporate' church. There are some views using this allegory where those that have studied is this way see this book of Solomon as being a prophetic map of the history of the corporate church. The look through history and map out the first and second century church to some chapters in Song of Solomon, and then the third through fifth century church to other chapters, and so on.
- Thirdly, the relationship between Jesus and the individual believer. This is the one that 'this' study refers to.
And there are dozens of other allegorical views of the book. The most important thing to do when studying any book or when taking any view is for me to pray that God would guide me, that the Holy Spirit would teach me. Because God is the one that knows. If it comes from God then it's a good thing, if it comes from a man's intellect then it's as useful as a boat load of baby poo. If you claim that 'God' gives you understanding, and especially if you feel called to teach it 'as' and understanding given from God, you really better make 'sure' that you are right. That last sentence is the only one here that comes not from me, but from God.
Though there are sometimes that I believe that God has revealed things to me and I will relay it that way, this isn't one of them. There is a teacher/speaker that is associated with the International House of Prayer who's teachings I am listening to regarding this book. These are just my notes and thoughts regarding this book. If God gives you insight concerning these notes, then fabulous; inside or outside these notes. For if we pray and completely rely on God, even our thoughts will come from Him.
The purpose of this first study CD01 for those that have the multi-CD series is to study the book as a beautiful love song as it relates to Jesus being the bridegroom and the individual believer as the bride.
In an early part of this CD the speaker addresses four reason why 'all' believers are included as being referenced as being the Bride of Christ. He explains that there are some believers who only think that there is a small privileged 'few' who have attained the right of being referred to as being the bride of Christ. My thought on that is "oh doggy poo". He further explains that élitist groups believe that only they, and their ten or twelve buddies scattered across the world, have attained the 'right' to be referred to as "the bride" of Christ.
OK, back to why 'all' believers are included as being the brides of Christ.
1) The maturity of the bride is the fruit of Jesus prayer. <John 17:26>
2) The Power of the full revelation of heaven transforms the bride. <1st John 3:2> The power of his unveiled glory in heaven is a successful agent of transformation to the redeemed heart.
3) What significantly insures the bride's destiny is the ravished heart of God. Whoever says yes to Christ, has an effect on Christ heart, and His heart is ravished by their willingness to say yes to him. <1John 3:9>. So when Jesus looks at those believers that have said yes, his heart is ravished, he looks at them in an entirely different way. God's heart is ravished for 'all' of his people. In heaven there is only one class of the redeemed, there isn't a bunch of subclasses of redemption. There isn't the "redeemed" then the "super-redeemed", then the "unbelievably-redeemed" LOL.
When a believer understands how much Christ is ravished by their "yes", when they are weakened and broken by the hopelessness of living for any other reason, then they will be given hope. They will rise up and live for the one that cares so passionately for them.
Another subtopic that the speaker started talking about was how dangerous it is to be a part of an élitist mindset regarding whether you are, or are not the bride of Christ. As he was talking about he doesn't even measure how he himself is doing as it relates to yesterday, or any other time in the past, I was reminded of something God revealed to me several years ago. Several years ago God made it clear to me that I should not only 'not' judge other people, but I should also 'not' even judge myself; that's God's job. And I shouldn't be preoccupied with God's job (as if I could do it) but I should wake up every morning and good go for the joy of life and understanding that that God has set in front of me.
Now I haven't done very well in this area. In fact I think that I have preoccupied myself with how well I was feeling a few weeks ago and wanting to attain that again quite often. But I do believe that if I would just listen to what God has said about enjoying what he has given me today that I will be much happier. It is written that God is the "Great I AM", 'not' the Great "WAS" or the Great "Going to be", but the scripture says he is the "Great I AM".
Theologically, and I actually have a distaste for that word but anyhow, one of the ideas that is referred to in Song of Solomon (and in other places in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures) is that we are engaged to Christ and in the age to come the engagement will be consummated and we will be married to Christ. In the Hebrew tradition, when you were 'formally' engaged you were legally married (again notes from this study, not my opinion). In this Hebrew tradition if a man and woman broke the engagement they had to get a legal divorce certificate. When engaged they waited one year before they consummated the marriage.
The Holy Spirit exalts Jesus in the Song of Songs (Solomon). There are three main characters of the book;
1) King Solomon as the picture of Jesus, King Solomon as the author of the song,
2) Shulamit Woman ... picture of the bride of Christ who eventually experiences full spiritual maturity. She is introduce as a young maiden who becomes a mature bride. The transition is recorded right in the middle of SoS 4:8.
3) The daughters of Jerusalem. They appear throughout the book regularly. They are never clearly identified or defined. However when we study what they do or what they say we learn that they love Jesus but they never really press in on the intimacy that the maiden or the bride does. The daughters love Jesus but they are mostly characterized by a spiritual dullness or passivity. But they clearly possess an inquisitive spirit, a sincere spirit to seek the Lord. Throughout the book they are perplexed by the fervency of the Shulamite woman.
Comparing Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Both of these books were written by Solomon (David's son). Proverbs is also a book that he wrote for a total of three books. Ecclesiastes was written to compare the vanity of living life "under the sun". In this book he says you can have everything in the world and you don't have the reality of God permeating everything you are on the inside, you have nothing.
The Song of Solomon on the other hand touches on the joy of life 'with' the knowledge and 'living' the life 'in' God. It highlights how meaningful 'everything' is if you are walking in the love and light of Jesus Christ. Again, remember this is an allegory. The understanding of how and when allegories should be used is something that can be learned by both study of the scriptures, and a divine understanding brought about by learning directly from the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself took scripture that others had referred to in the literal sense and brought meaning from him that no one had understood before by showing how the scripture of allegorical.
Ecclesiastes helps us to understand how 'everything' no matter how 'good' it is, does not matter unless it flows out of the Love of God. You could have the biggest 'ministry' in the world, give away everything you have to the poor, and if it didn't flow out of the Love of God it would be 'nothing' it would be meaningless. If you did it for recognition or just to "feel good" it would be meaningless in God's sight.
It's difficult to fervently seek the fullness of life that is in Jesus without understanding how futile how life is outside of Jesus. Ecclesiastes speaks of life without rest and fulfillment; based on worldly experience, knowledge, and self-assertion. That's what "worldly wisdom" says; assert yourself, get more knowledge, get more experience ... the book of Ecclesiastes says that you will 'never' get ultimate fulfillment pursuing that kind of fulfillment.
Song of Solomon talks about entering rest, through humility, submission, and the impartation of Love. It's a completely different perspective on life. The Jewish father's in ancient times were known to relate the three books of Solomon 'to' Solomon's temple. Proverbs related to the outer court, Ecclesiastes related to the inner court, and Song of Solomon was called the most Holy place.
posted by Timothy at 2/25/2005 08:14:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home